Road Trippin' to Denny's
by Yaushibee
Summary: Team Natsu and co are on a road trip. In a cramped van full of luggage. Oh, and Erza insists on singing. For the road-trip-in-a-cramped-car au and end-up-at-Denny's au prompts. Minor NaLu, Gruvia, and GaJevy.
1. Breakfast at Denny's

Another silly kind of AU. They're really good practice and who doesn't love team Natsu shenanigans, right?

I'm not too happy with the ending (I wrote myself into a corner but that's nothing new) but it'll do. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Just twelve more hours.

Just twelve more hours, Lucy repeated to herself, and we'll be at the beach and enjoying Spring Break to its fullest. And more importantly, out of this damn van. It was cramped (stuffed full of people, luggage and beach balls) and hot (the AC wasn't working) and Lucy had spent more than enough time in it already to last her a lifetime.

"I'm gonna barf."

"Don't barf on me you-urgk, idiot."

Lucy glanced back from the passenger seat at Natsu and Gajeel, who were currently whining about their motion sickness-as they had done for the majority of the trip. "Natsu, put your seat belt on correctly." Lucy reprimanded. She had already told him several times to fix it but he still remained splayed out in his seat with the seat belt only resting around his waist. The top part he had put behind his back.

"But Luccccyy, I feel sick." Natsu moaned back.

"I don't care. Put your belt on or else I'll put you in a car seat!"

"They don't make car seats that big."

"Wanna bet?"

"Lucy." Gray sighed from beside her. He was driving and losing his patience with their passengers just as much as her, including her as well. He'd also lost his shirt somehow. "I already have a headache, can you keep it down?"

"Does Gray need some aspirin? Juvia has some!"

Gajeel turned back to look at his roommate with a glare. It didn't hold the same level of effect as it normally would given his queasiness. "You have aspirin and you didn't give it to me?"

"Gajeel didn't ask Juvia." She replied smoothly.

"Then give me some now."

"No. It's for Gray."

"Gajeel, I have some Midol if you want it." Levy offered. She was sitting squished between Juvia and Erza in the back seat.

"No way, shorty, I'm not having any of that damn girly stuff! It'll probably turn me into a lady or something."

"Sorry I offered."

"Natsu, put your seat belt back on!"

"It's better without it, Lucy."

"I think it's time we partake in some classic road trip song." Erza said then and everyone in the car groaned. She cleared her throat. "Ohh, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer..."

Lucy put her head in hands. Just twelve more hours.

* * *

It was 6 AM when they finally stopped driving for the night. They had run out of gas along the highway and had to be towed to the closest town. If it could be called a town, that is. It was really no more than a gas station and a Denny's. While Gray stayed at the gas station while he fueled up the van, the rest of them had gone to get some breakfast. The last meal they had was dinner and that was twelve hours ago.

Lucy slid into the booth seat, followed by Natsu and Levy. She slumped against the table top. Due to the drama of needing a tow and the "thrill" of not knowing if they'd run out of gas, she hadn't gotten much sleep during the night.

She tiredly glanced around the restaurant. It was empty aside from a few truckers and the waitress who told them she'd be over in a minute. She let her eyes shut as Erza and Juvia returned from the bathroom. They took their seats at the booth.

"Where's Gajeel?" Lucy heard Levy ask.

"Still using the faculties, I imagine." Erza replied. "Ah." Lucy opened her eyes and saw the waitress standing at their table. She placed the menus down and smiled at them.

"Late night?" She asked.

Lucy sat up and picked up a menu while the others engaged the woman in conversation. Lucy squinted at the fine print and exaggerated photos of breakfast food drowning in maple syrup. Her eyes caught the sight of french toast with a side of hash browns and eggs. She knew what she was ordering.

Natsu was looking over the menu beside her. She set down her own on the table again and asked him what he was getting. He grinned and pointed to an item on the back page.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "'Senior Scrambled Eggs and Cheddar Breakfast?'" She read aloud and looked at Natsu, brows furrowed. "Natsu, that's from the fifty-five years or older menu."

"So?"

"You're not older than fifty-five." Lucy said deadpan.

"How do you know? No one knows my birth year so I might even be older than eighty."

"Natsu..."

"I'm just kidding, Luce. I'm going to have this one." He pointed to the menu again and Lucy's eyes nearly popped out. The Lumberjack Slam that he wanted consisted of two pancakes, a slice of grilled ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two eggs, plus Hash Browns or grits. Oh, and to top it off your choice of bread.

"Do you really need all that?" Lucy questioned incredulously.

"Of course he does, he's a bottomless pit." Gray said, gaining the table's attention. He took a seat beside Levy.

"You don't even know what she's talking about." Natsu scowled at him.

"No, but I can guess that it's the biggest item on the menu." Gray shrugged and took up one of the spare menus on the table.

Gajeel returned then as well and took a seat next to Erza.

"What took you so long?" Levy asked.

"None of yer business." He grumbled. He had gotten even less sleep than Lucy had since he'd refused Levy's Midol and couldn't get any shut eye when he felt like puking the whole time. Unfortunately this made him even crankier.

Levy frowned and was about to say something back when the waitress reappeared. "Ready to order?" She asked. Those who had the time to look over the menu ordered first and then followed by Gray and Gajeel. The waitress folded her notepad and grabbed the menus. "Okay, hang tight and I'l be back with your O.J. in a sec."

As she left, everyone collectively slumped back into their seats. Some of them may have gotten some rest but they were still pretty worn. And also still all cramped together. Lucy silently wondered why they hadn't chosen to take two tables so they could finally spread out. She leaned against Natsu's side. Well, it wasn't so bad and at least Natsu wasn't motion sick at the moment.

"We only have four more hours and we'll be at the beach." Erza said, folding her hands on the table. "I look forward to some time in the sun."

"Me too." Levy sighed longingly, resting her head on her hand. She glanced out the window. The sun was barely up but it was looking to be a good beach day already.

"I'd rather get some sleep first." Lucy yawned.

Juvia nodded. "Juvia would also like to get some shut eye first."

"We have to go to the hotel first anyway." Gray said, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. "Though I'm not driving anymore."

Natsu and Erza both spoke at the same time. "I will."

"No!" Instantly came the simultaneous reply of the other.

"Awh, why not?" Natsu whined.

"You get motion sick, idiot, remember?" Gray said and Natsu glared at him.

"Why not I?" Erza asked, her brows pulled together. The others shared a panicked look. If Erza drove, they'd no doubt make it to the beach ahead of schedule but the question was if they'd arrive in one piece.

"Why don't I drive?" Levy offered. "Erza you can..." She looked to Lucy for help.

"Sing." Lucy improvised and instantly regretted it. At least it was better than ending up in some mangled car crash. Maybe. "To keep up morale."

The group looked at her with a mix of doubt and dread but Erza nodded her head. "Very well. We can start up a reprise of '99 Bottles.'" She sounded quite pleased.

Lucy forced a smile. "Then it's settled."

* * *

They stepped out of the Denny's at seven. The day was starting to heat up now and the sun was higher in the sky. Lucy attempted to soak up some of those rays while she waited for Gajeel and Levy to go get the van.

Juvia was at her side, fawning over Gray as he changed his shirt (there was a misfortunate "accident" while they were eating where Natsu had spilled his orange juice on the garment. Gray was still seething about it but Juvia seemed tickled that her spare shirt she kept in her purse for him came in handy.)

Natsu and Erza were returning from one last trip to the bathrooms when the van pulled up. Gajeel was riding shotgun this time.

"Hey, no fair. I wanted shotgun this time." Natsu complained.

"Too bad, get in." Gajeel scowled. Even food hadn't tamed his crankiness.

"Come on, Natsu." Lucy said pulling on his arm as she climbed into the van. She was too tired to deal with drama about the seating now. "I'll sit in back with you." Natsu grumbled under his breath but complied. Erza followed him in, then Juvia and Gray.

"Alright, let's head to the beach!" Levy said cheerfully from the driver's spot. Lucy smiled and let her head rest against Natsu's shoulder. Maybe she could catch some sleep before they made it to the hotel.

Levy put the car into gear and began to pull away from the curve when a loud hissing sound was heard from the left side of the van. Levy quickly hit the breaks and looked out the side-view mirror. The cheerfulness drained from her face as the entire van began to sink on one corner. "Uh guys..."

An already knowing dread filled the car as she unnecessarily finished the sentence. "I think we have a flat tire."

Lucy put her head in her hands.

Just twelve more hours. Again.


	2. Accommodations

They had run out of gas, gotten a tow, had to replace the tire that had popped, and stopped at least four times just in that day for a "puke-break." All things considered, it was a miracle they'd even made it there at all.

Not that they were officially at the beach though.

Like planned, they went to the hotel first which was just a few minutes walking distance from the white sand and cool waters. Since they had reservations, Erza went ahead to the lobby to get their room keys while the others unpacked their bags from the back of the van.

"Ahh, I can't wait for a nice nap." Lucy sighed, stretching her arms over her head. It felt good to be out of the cramped van again.

Levy pulled her bag from the back and set it by her feet. "I just want to take a shower; I feel disgusting." She said with a frown, looking down at her rumpled attire. She hadn't changed since yesterday morning and now it was almost noon.

"Agreed." Lucy nodded, pulling at the hem of her own day-old t-shirt. She stifled a yawn. "But, nap first."

"What's taking Scarlet so long?" Gajeel asked as he tossed his bags over his shoulder. He'd already recovered from his motion sickness.

Natsu, on the other hand, looked fairly pale still and a little green but that didn't stop him from bouncing on his heels. Lucy wasn't sure where he got his energy from. "Maybe we're going to get a room upgrade." He replied.

"You dolt," Gray said, taking out the last of the bags and hitting Natsu's arm purposely as he set it down—he was still peeved about the orange juice incident earlier. "We barely got a room as it is. There is no way we'd get an upgrade."

Natsu scowled at him but Lucy stepped between them before they could start something. "The counter might have just been busy. It is spring break, after all." She said. She glanced at the door of the hotel for signs of the redhead and smiled brightly. "Look, here she comes now."

But, somehow Erza's expression didn't scream enthusiasm. "It seems," she began as she stopped before the group, "that our reservations, well—" she stared hard at the ground for a moment.

Juvia spoke up when Erza did't say anything for a moment. "Is something wrong, Erza?"

"Apparently, our reservations were lost." Erza finally spit out. She looked soberly at her gaping friends. "I'm sorry, it's my fault I must have messed up when I called them before. Please punish me."

No one could respond at first. After all they went through to get there, they didn't have a hotel to stay at. Lucy felt like falling on the ground in defeat.

"However," Erza said, looking a little more cheerful, "the owner apologized and set us up at another establishment. It's not as nice as our rooms were supposed to have but it was the only place available."

Lucy brighten immediately upon hearing the news. "That's fantastic, Erza. Where is it?"

"Not too far from here. I believe it's actually closer to the beach than this hotel is."

"Great, then let's go; I need sleep." Gray said.

"Yeah, no kidding."

Gray smacked Natsu with the bag again.

* * *

"Not as nice" was an understatement.

The place the owner had set them up at was an ancient looking motel. From the outside it already looked bad but not wishing to make Erza feel worse, they hoped for the best and checked in. Their hopes we quickly lost.

The rooms themselves were way worse than the outside. The wallpaper was an ugly blue marine themed pattern that was obscenely obnoxious and peeling near the ceiling, the carpets were shag and looked like a wet dog in spots. Lucy had to hold her breath from the moldy smell that hit her as she walked in.

"Are those water beds?" Levy asked cautiously. She tapped one with her flip-flopped foot. It rippled and she turned away with a concealed look of horror.

Lucy tried to find the bright side as she watched Levy then move on to check out the bathroom only to step right out again. She wasn't even trying to cover up her disgust now. "At least we'll mostly be at the beach anyway so the room doesn't matter, right?" She tried smiling but it didn't console any of the girls.

"I'm sorry." Erza said, her head down. She sounded defeated.

"Juvia thinks it's fine." Juvia replied, touching Erza's arm briefly. "Water beds can be fun."

"I think I'll shower at the beach." Levy said after a minute of silence. She'd been the only one in the bathroom but the others nodded their heads in agreement—they would shower at the beach as well.

"Let's try to get some rest for now." Lucy suggested. Gingerly setting her bag down on the chair beside her—she was glad the bag was washable—she moved towards the bed and sat down. It was definitely a water bed.

The others eventually laid down as well, Levy sharing with Lucy and Erza and Juvia together in the other. The sheets at least felt somewhat clean so they all relaxed a little. They were too tired to be picky anymore, no matter how justified the claims.

As Lucy felt sleep tugging at her, she heard a loud shout from the room next door.

"THERE'S SOMETHING GROWING IN THE SHOWER!"

"WELL, DON'T TOUCH IT, IDIOT!" Gray's yell back at Natsu resounded through the walls. Gajeel shouted a few swears after that which were slightly more muffled, then threatened to make them eat that mold if they didn't both shut up and let him sleep.

It was a miracle that they were there indeed.

* * *

Some of you wanted a continuation and I felt in the mood tonight so I quickly did this. The motel idea was inspired by a similar one my family almost stayed at for the 4th of July when I was younger. The room back then wasn't nearly as bad as their's is but it was still pretty gross haha.

I didn't go back and reread any of this, so excuse the mistakes! Stay tuned for the part where they finally (?) make it to the beach.


End file.
